Fired Niles teacher suing board, administrators, superintendent and husband

NILES

Christopher Chieffo, the teacher fired last month by the board of education for falsification of sick leave, has filed suit against the board, superintendent and other school administrators for $4 million in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Chieffo, joined in the lawsuit by his wife Abbey, also a Niles teacher, accuses the defendants of civil fraud, defamation and civil conspiracy.

Superintendent Ann Marie Thigpen and board President Susan Gianetti Longacre are also named as individual defendants as is Thigpen’s husband Michael, owner of an excavating company.

The Thigpens and Chieffos live on the same street in Girard, according to the lawsuit.

In a unanimous vote, the board fired Chieffo on Jan.18. According to his personnel file, he called off sick last Oct. 3 when he was actually coaching the Howland High School boys golf team at a tournament in Alliance.

The suit contends the information provided to and published by The Vindicator and other local media is “false and defamatory,” but provides no further information.

Newspaper accounts of the tournament indicated that Chieffo was at the tournament.

Read more about the case in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.